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Thousands throng Mother`s house in Kolkata
Kolkata, Oct 19: Mother Teresa`s house in Kolkata, where she had spent more than 50 years of her life working among the poor and founded an order of nuns, has turned into be a pilgrimage destination with people thronging the house from early this morning to pay their homage to the nun.
Kolkata, Oct 19: Mother Teresa's house in Kolkata, where she
had spent more than 50 years of her life working among the poor and
founded an order of nuns, has turned into be a pilgrimage
destination with people thronging the house from early this morning
to pay their homage to the nun.
Thousands of people, some with Mother's favourite marigold
flowers, descended on the headquarters of the Missionaries of
Charity (MoC) on Acharyya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road and made a
beeline for the Mother's tomb, which had been decked up for the
''saint of gutter's'' beatification.
In the queues were several street children, who had come from nearby Sishu Bhavan, founded by Mother Teresa.
They came in colourful processions, some with banners reading, ''Mother Teresa, you will always live in our hearts,'' and made rounds of the Mother's tomb.
Covered with yellow flowers and framed by white shiny ribbon, the tomb almost looked ethereal from a distance.
Among the first to come was Mother Teresa's long term associate 88-year-old Lucy Gomes. Frail with age and almost doddering, she prayed for a long time in front of mother's grave.
Parishioners from the nearby St Teresa's Church, the parish Mother Teresa belonged to, also trooped in and paid their obeisance to the ''saint of poor.''
The sea of humanity that descended on the house of the Albanian included people from Kerala, Goa, Orissa and Tamil Nadu to pay their respects to the Mother.
Also there were many foreigners in the crowd, which had come from the USA, the UK, Korea and Japan.
But apart from the large number of visitors at the mother house, there was nothing to indicate any outward manifestation of a celebration of the beatification.
It was almost a usual affair at the MoC with the nuns joining for a prayer in front of the Mother's statue in the morning and distributing food and clothes among the poor.
''We have decided to do away with the celebration in keeping with the sentiments of the Mother, who abhorred ostentation,'' Sister Christi of the order told reporters.
''We are spending the day in thanksgiving to the lord and rejoicing silently. We are holding a special prayer in the evening for the mother's beatification,'' she added.
Bureau Report
In the queues were several street children, who had come from nearby Sishu Bhavan, founded by Mother Teresa.
They came in colourful processions, some with banners reading, ''Mother Teresa, you will always live in our hearts,'' and made rounds of the Mother's tomb.
Covered with yellow flowers and framed by white shiny ribbon, the tomb almost looked ethereal from a distance.
Among the first to come was Mother Teresa's long term associate 88-year-old Lucy Gomes. Frail with age and almost doddering, she prayed for a long time in front of mother's grave.
Parishioners from the nearby St Teresa's Church, the parish Mother Teresa belonged to, also trooped in and paid their obeisance to the ''saint of poor.''
The sea of humanity that descended on the house of the Albanian included people from Kerala, Goa, Orissa and Tamil Nadu to pay their respects to the Mother.
Also there were many foreigners in the crowd, which had come from the USA, the UK, Korea and Japan.
But apart from the large number of visitors at the mother house, there was nothing to indicate any outward manifestation of a celebration of the beatification.
It was almost a usual affair at the MoC with the nuns joining for a prayer in front of the Mother's statue in the morning and distributing food and clothes among the poor.
''We have decided to do away with the celebration in keeping with the sentiments of the Mother, who abhorred ostentation,'' Sister Christi of the order told reporters.
''We are spending the day in thanksgiving to the lord and rejoicing silently. We are holding a special prayer in the evening for the mother's beatification,'' she added.
Bureau Report